Power Walkers Jam Station Reactor Corridor

Commuters on Waystation 80 have taken to zero-gravity power-walking through the primary reactor corridor during peak shift changes, drawing fierce complaints from retired engineers. The habit, known among station staff as core-pacing, involves participants strapping heavy lead-foam weights to their wrists and pumping their legs through the zero-g heat-exchanger bays.

Walkers favour the sector because small thermal leaks from the reactor core make it the only passage on the station warm enough to induce physical perspiration. Over eighty clerks and administrators now gather after each watch, wearing bright tension-straps and driving their boots through zero-g in strict cadence.

Sweat is not contraband. However, veteran station crew insist the display damages morale.

"A true spaceman only sweats when the cooling tanks fail," retired plant fitter Tomas Aris told the station safety council on Friday. "When I see forty wet accountants rushing past the turbine manifolds, I start looking for my patch kit."

Walkers have refused to move to the cold cargo decks. Group leader Priya Chen argued that the warm pipe insulation keeps muscles soft, while the red flash of the secondary warning lights marks a perfect four-minute lap.

"We tried the gym," Ms Chen said. "It has no atmosphere."